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A woman in Singapore ordered seven drinks from the Starbucks outlet in AMK Hub, but all the beverages were found spilled on the public pedestrian footpath near the delivery address without any explanation as the delivery rider became uncontactable after marking the order delivered.
A public complaint about the incident was put up on Facebook on April 24 by Misshopper Boutique, which is run by a relatively well-known online seller, Lerine Yeo.
No accountability
According to Yeo, she was having a gathering with friends on Saturday night and the drinks were marked as delivered but nothing showed up for the recipient eventually.
Calls to the rider were left unanswered and the group was left wondering if the delivery personnel got lost or was even alright.
The next thing they knew, they found their order downstairs on the public footpath, spilled and completely ruined.
Yeo revealed in her post that her group was hanging out in a condominium unit and access into the premises had to be requested via the intercom at the gate.
As no permission was sought to enter the private housing compound, Yeo deduced that the rider could not have delivered the order to the right address.
Drinks found downstairs
It was not explained how the group figured out that their drinks were spilled but they found the remnants of it on the ground outside of the condominium.
Yeo wrote: "Guess what and where my order went? Sent to the floor."
She also revealed that her friends "got to clean up the mess" that the rider made.
The GrabFood delivery order number, GF-444, which was found on the app, matched the order chit found on the cups.
Should have explained what happened
Yeo's main gripe was that the rider should have owned up and provided an explanation instead of running away and leaving the customer guessing.
She wrote: "I don't usually like to post people on page but it really pissed me off when one acts with no integrity. It really angers me not because of the money I have wasted but running away from mistakes."
She wrote: "Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. But not this driver. No apology nothing!"
She also said if such an incident can happen to her, it can happen to anyone else.
Grab's response
In response to the post, Grab asked for Yeo's details and said they were looking into the matter.
In follow-up comments by Yeo in the comments section of the post, she said the total fee for the delivery was refunded to her, but she was upset that it took a public airing of her grievances to get the matter sorted.
Delivery riders' response
Responses by delivery riders in a closed Facebook group that discussed the issue blamed the rider for not following the prescribed protocol as stated by GrabFood.
In such circumstances, the rider is obligated to inform GrabFood about the spillage or any accidents, while the customer can be contacted out of goodwill to explain the situation.
Delivery riders also highlighted that Starbucks drinks delivery are packed in paper bags that can break more easily as compared to plastic bags as the condensation from cold beverages soak through the material.
With multiple drinks in a paper bag, there is a tendency for the bag to break.
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